Dragan Stojkovic was born on 3rd of March 1965. in Pasipoljana, in the vicinity of Nis.He started his playing career in Radnicki Nis, continued in Red Star, played two years for Olympic Marseille and six months for Verona in order to help the progress of Japanese football during 8 years he played in Nagoya..

His national debut was on 12th of November 1983. in Zagreb against France (0:0) and the last match was against Slovenia (1:1) in Belgrade on the 14th of March 2001. That was his 84th match for the national team for which he scored 17 goals. He played 219 matches for Red Star, 189 of which were premiership games and scored 89 goals. He won two Championship titles with Red Star – 1988. and 1990. and was the best player in both those years in spite of having tough competition in Prosinecki, Mrkela Musemic, Sabanadzovic, Lukic, Binic in 1988. and Najdoski, Prosinecki, Juric, Pancev, Savicevic, Jugovic and Belodedic in 1990.

In March 2005. he enters the fourth year of his mandate as the president of the football association of Serbia and Montenegro as a man who managed to attain important positions for out football in UEFA and FIFA, due to his personal connections, charm but also thanks to his player authority. Currently he is also a member of the technical committee of FIFA.

World class football players can be described in many different ways and motives, so that the writer or the reporter is always exclusive and the one that finds out something new. That’s the way how it is with Pele, Cruyff, Di Stefano, Puskas, Beckenbauer, Platini, Charlton, that’s how it was in our football with Mitic, Bobek, Sekularac, Galic, Kostic and especially with the best and in many things unequalled – Dragan Dzajic.

In case of Dragan – Piksi Stojkovic, however there was one important point: he was a young man with a player’s biography of a Stanley Matthews’ kind! Not even the glorious Brazilian Pele possessed a playing trance similar to his at such young age. A few questions deserve a special attention… Is it possible that someone with two and a half years of age starts running after a ball made of cloth on still shaky legs? Is it possible that someone after just three training units and without a major verification becomes a registered player for a strong first division club?

Is it possible that someone after just 100 minutes spent on the pitch of the national competitiongets named a football genius? Is it possible that someone after just 425 minutes of playing in bigger and smaller cities alike gets called up for the national team with the assurance that he might be in the starting eleven for the European Championships 1984? Is it possible that someone after just two years at the major club like Red Star becomes not only the captain but also a living legend that will be accepted by his predecessors, too?

Dragan Stojkovic Piksi achieved all that within a few years, no matter that he lived for and with football since his birth. He started his career in Radnicki from Nis, stellar moments he lived trough in Red Star, played a few episodes in Marseille and Verona, surely wishing to forget those times as soon as possible in order to finally spend full eight years as a football symbol of Nagoya and be an example of how to become a true star and act like one.

Piksi’s arrival to Belgrade was surely one of most beautiful moments for Red Star after Bora Kostic even though he was merely a “new stranger”, he stamped the entire team with his game and he became the author of the events on the pitch. In the red-and-white uniform he started in (and represented) with such elegancy and assurance, that it was confusing for the some fans, especially those most passionate ones from the “north” that sometimes wished to be selectors.

A youngster from Pasipoljana close to Nis impressed everyone immediately. From day one he played in a way that was cultivated by Red Star from 4th of March 1945 – eminent skill, technical perfection, lucidity and creation – but Dragan – Piksi Stojkovic often sparkled with a goal-getter’s thunder, too. He had it all and he found a place in every fan’s heart very quickly. He simply belonged to the refined lodge of play makers from Red Star: he was the successor of Mitic and Takac, Dzajic and Palfi.

Four years spent in Red Star were enough for him to be officially named the fifth star of RedStar and a legend of our club with most trophies. No one until then and until now played as short as him and was remembered for his mastery and effect on the pitch for such a long time, regardless if we are talking about his team mates, opposition on the pitch, fans on the stands, next to television sets or radio. Dragan – Piksi Stojkovic was simply a living store of imagination, spirit, greatness, technique, knowledge of the game and feel for a goal. In that net of football events in the club and national team, he was nearly always a central point around which everything was turning and everything was dependent on him!

In European Championships 1984. against France on Saint Etienne (the hero of the match was Michel Platini with three goals) all the usual team members left the 16 yard box and turned their heads. The youngest player on the pitch – Dragan Piksi Stojkovic – picked up the ball and placed it on the white spot...

Carried by a strange assurance, full of youthful fire, he ran up, took a good look at the keeper and placed the ball in the upper left corner.

At that moment we got a player who will achieve the brilliance and fame of a world class super star. He was brilliant during the World Cup in Italy 1990, too. Even today many world TV channels are showing his goals against Spain in Verona..

In that final tournament he was one of the biggest stars. Unlucky for him a major injury would keep him away from the ball exactly at the time when he transferred from Red Star to Olympic. He will forget both Marseille and Verona very quickly, all his troubles, doubts and humiliations that he went through after unsuccessful operations in Munich and Brussels.

After intelligently scaling his powers, he left Europe and decided to go to far away Japan, Nagoya to be precise, where he demonstrated world’s finest football for eight years. He didn’t accept to become a retiree in 25th year of age.

Dragan – Piksi Stojkovic is a strong character. That is why it is not a miracle that selectors, especially Santrac, kept calling him up for the national team without verification. They knew that it would be easier with the captain and that he would be their best contributor. Always on a risky way Nis – Belgrade – Marseille – Verona – Nagoya, Dragan Stojkovic knew what he wanted all the time, and more importantly, what he didn’t want. Fans especially appreciate him leaving his heart on the pitch. A world class star brought fanaticism into the game on top of enthusiasm, courage and spite.